More Than Meets The Eye
by David-El
Summary: A year before meeting Team Prime, Jack becomes the bearer of a shocking secret, one that he doesn't want, but can't get rid of. When he meets Team Prime, all he wants is to avoid living that life again, but discovers that it is impossible. So he does his best to make do, and avoid the failure of his previous life. Can he succeed, or is he doomed to fail and lose everything again?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I do NOT own Transformers in any way, shape or form. Unless of course you count a few DVDs and books. And there is a MINOR spoiler for Age of Extinction in this.

**More Than Meets the Eye**

**Prologue: The End and the Beginning**

_Night of April 18-19, 2012-Alamo, NV_

_ Everything had gone to hell, even Earth. From the moment I had learned about the true number of pillars, nothing had gone right. From the attack on the highway to Ironside's murder and Sentinel's betrayal to my own forced spying to the destruction of the Xantium to Chicago. Oh, Chicago . . ._

_ Chicago was truly the beginning of hell. The Decepticons had torn through it, hardly any buildings over twenty stories remained intact, and skeletons littered the streets. Getting far enough inside the Windy City to find my ex-girlfriend looked like it would be suicide for even the ex-Special Forces guys that had joined me. That is, until the Autobots had shown up and explained that they'd never been in the Xantium. Bumblebee managed to fly me to Trump Tower, where I offlined Laserbeak, though Gould escaped, and that led to more trouble, as he immediately told the 'Cons that the Autobots were alive. Carly then gave us some important information, but after that, she fled the city, too scared of the war. Then again, she probably didn't even make it out before a 'Con patrol found her._

_ We tried to take out the control pillar with an RPG, and while the initial plan was good, the building we chose to shoot from was unstable, and the 'Cons discovered us and sent Shockwave's driller-bot into the building, bringing the top half down on top of another, smaller building. Fortunately Optimus managed to destroy the driller-bot before it could do anymore damage._

_ Then I managed to get separated from Epps and his friends, only to be found by Starscream. "Hey Scream, it's been a while, hasn't it?"_

_ "I'll kill you, boy!" he said, just as I had started running. "I love it when your little insect feet try to run." And sure enough, Scream managed to chase me down. "Thought you were working for us, boy?" he asked._

_ "Me? Work for you? Never!" I yelled, as I put on a grapple gun given to me by Que, and launched the grapple at Scream's optic. The grapple hit perfectly, but he started writhing around in pain, so I pulled out a boom-stick and stabbed him in the other optic. Fortunately Lt Col Will Lennox found me and managed to cut the wire on the grapple (Que had forgotten to mention how to disable it,) before the boom-stick went off, killing Scream._

_ Since I had no idea where Epps had gotten to, I stuck with Will and his NEST team, only for us to find Epps and join up with him. Then a SEAL team joined us, saying that they were there to vector in Tomahawk missiles. While Will was giving out orders, my heart was broken as I noticed that Bee and several other Autobots had been captured by the 'Cons. They killed Que as the Spacebridge was opened, bringing Cybertron here._

_ I had asked Brains and Wheelie to bring down a carrier ship, and it succeeded, sort of. They managed to bring down the carrier ship, but by doing that, the ships inside started falling. That _might_ have made a good distraction for Bee to escape, but the second ship to crash killed him. I lost it at that. Bee had been my guardian since the Autobots had arrived on Earth, and losing him was worse than losing my parents had been during the Fallen/Matrix of Leadership incident in Egypt. It was worse than losing Mikaela because of my job. Bee was my first friend, the one to introduce me to my real family, and I lost control, blasting every 'Con in sight. I even started using the Cosmic Rust gun I had accidentally downloaded from Sentinel._

_ Once I had killed most of the 'Cons that had captured and killed Bee, I finally noticed that Optimus had brought down the control pillar and was fighting Sentinel. I instantly decided to destroy the pillar while the Special Ops guys helped Optimus fight Sentinel. I just managed to get to the pillar, but Gould beat me there and reactivated the pillar. "You chose sides, you chose wrong," Gould told me, just as Sentinel killed Optimus. I activated my arm canon and aimed at Gould, while he just turned and looked at me. "I just saved a whole other world. You think you're a hero, huh? You think you're a hero?!"_

_ "No, I'm just a soldier," I said, repeating what Will had told me so many years ago. I then blew a hole through his chest, but Sentinel shot me, saving the pillar, and Cybertron arrived in Earth's orbit._

_ That was the beginning of the end for humanity. I managed to kill Sentinel, but not before he transported the entire human race to Cybertron and bombed Earth with millions of what he called 'seeds' that cyberformed Earth. NEST and the rest of Earth's military started a resistance, but we were no match for the 'Cons, not without Optimus Prime. Within three months of the death of Earth, the military was no more. Six months after that, the last Autobot was killed. And three months after that, Lt Col William Lennox, the last survivor of NEST, besides myself, was killed off-lining Megatron._

_ As for me, I was left alone, my friends and family were all dead, and we had lost the war, as there was no chance we could defeat Shockwave, especially after he repaired Megatron, who then took the name of Galvatron. What was left for me, the living container of the AllSpark and last bearer of the Matrix of Leadership? __**"We can give you another chance,"**__ a deep voice called to me. I recognized it immediately. It was Prima, one of the Seven. He had first spoken to me when I had died trying to get the Matrix to Optimus' body in Egypt, and since then he and his five faithful companions had been my constant companions and guides._

_"Very well then, Prima, what do you mean by another chance?"__ I asked._

_** "We can send you to another reality, one where your family, and our last descendant still live. That is, if you wish to go,"**__ Liege Maximo said._

_"Why me?"_

_** "Because of the unique combination of AllSpark and Matrix energies in your body, little one,"**__ Solus answered. __**"We can promise you nothing, except that your family is alive there. Do you wish it?"**_

_ I had only one answer to give to her. __"With all my heart."_

Jackson Darby woke as soon as the answer was given. _Primus, what was with that dream?_ he wondered. For the past year he'd been having that dream, or ones similar to it, and all of them connected to Captain Samuel James 'Orion' Witwicky. They'd become so prevalent that he'd started talking like him! The scary thing about the dreams was that there seemed to be an element of truth to them. The events of the day after he first had one of the dreams still scared him. But a year had passed, and no sign of any non-human intelligent life, and to be honest, Jack liked it that way. He liked his quiet, mostly normal life in Alamo. And with that thought, Jack headed to the garage, got on his bike, and headed in to school. Nothing could possibly ruin this day . . .


	2. Darkness Rising Part 1

**More Than Meets the Eye**

**Chapter I: Darkness Rising Part I**

_April 18, 2012-Somewhere in Texas_

"-So, there I am on the lookout when out of nowhere these high-beams light up my rear-view. Then it hits me, I'm illegally parked!" Cliffjumper tells his beloved partner.

"_Another _parking ticket?" Arcee asks from Alamo, Nevada, close to the Autobots base. Cliff was telling her about his most recent scouting mission in New York City in order to take the edge off of a serious case of boredom.

"Better: _the boot_."

"Big metal tire clamp, impossible to remove," Arcee remembers from their lessons on Earth culture.

"Bingo! So the local _po_lice do their thing, and I let 'em get all the way down the block. That's when I kick off my new shiny shoe and BAM!" Cliff exclaims, finishing the story.

"New York's finest soil themselves," Arcee replies, easily hiding her amusement. Though she'd only been partnered with Cliffjumper since the day they left Cybertron together, she was all too used to his loud, friendly, out-going personality, and she loved him for it.

"You know me, Arcee. You mess with Cliffjumper-"

"-And you get the horns," Arcee finished for him. Cliff had had the horns since Cybertron, and made certain to scan an Earth vehicle with horns when he got there. "Not sure how that complies with Autobot rule number one: keep a low profile?" Arcee asked as Cliff laughed at his own story.

"What can I say? Patrolling for Energon out here in Dullsville gets lonesome. Almost makes me miss the Decepticons."

"Like Alamo, Nevada's a party?" Arcee asked in response. "We're alone wherever we travel on this rock, Cliff," she said in a lonely tone.

Then Cliff picked something up that gave him a reason to be excited. "I'm getting a signal."

"Need backup?"

"Do I _ever _need backup?" Cliff said arrogantly. He took a quick turn off the road to find the source, and found an old, abandoned strip mine. But what was most interesting was what was inside. "I just found a _whole _lot of Energon!" But just as interesting was what was _above_ him. "Decepticons!" he warned Arcee as he transformed to his Cybertronian mode, and just before he was shot by the _Nemesis_, landing in the middle of the Energon field. As he was recovering from the hit, a dozen Vehicon drones dropped from the _Nemesis._ "Arcee, about that backup?"

"On it, Cliff!" Arcee replied. "Arcee to Optimus, the 'Cons are back. Cliff might be neck-deep in scrap."

"Understood," Optimus Prime replied from his location in Tennessee. "Ratchet, do you have Cliffjumper's coordinates?"

"I'm locked on his signal, Optimus, but our team is scattered across time zones," the medbot replied from Alaska.

"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, rendezvous back at base and prepare to Groundbridge." The Autobots arrived not thirty minutes later, but were surprised to find a total lack of Decepticons. What they did find was "An untapped Energon deposit."

"What's left of it," Bulkhead corrected Prime.

Ratchet was confused though. "The first Decepticon activity in three years."

"That we know of. If they're scouting for Energon, they may be preparing for His return," Optimus said in a grave voice.

The team then started searching the old mine for any sign of Cliffjumper. Unfortunately they did find one sign: a broken horn. "No," Arcee said, completely in denial.

"Ratchet, can you track his position?"

The medbot immediately opened his tracking system on his arm, only to find "No! Cliffjumper's life-signal . . . just went offline."

_April 19, 2012-Alamo, NV_

Jack had completely recovered from his odd dream thanks to the dull day he was having at work. That was just one of the many reasons he preferred Alamo to New York-it was peaceful, so unlike his old home in the City That Never Sleeps. But before the memories could start flooding in, another person rolled up, and as always, he welcomed them with "Welcome to KO Drive-In, where every patty's a knock-out. May I take your order?"

"Uh, two Super combos, extra fries."

"Okay, _dos_ _numero_ twos, anything else?" he asked as another worker handed him the pre-made order.

"Yeah, some advice. How do I get an awesome job like yours?" he asked, before bursting into laughter.

Oh great, it was Vince, the school jock and bully. Though Jack could have easily torn him apart, he did his best to avoid him, and only challenged him to verbal judo, of which he was a self-proclaimed master. "So that's two orders of we're-not-as-funny-as-we-think-we-are combos with a side of bite-me."

Vince stopped laughing at that, demanding "What'd you say?"

Jack just sighed. "Fifteen fifty-nine, _sir_, at the window." Sometimes it just wasn't worth it, he thought as he set the order down. Big mistake, as Vince stopped at the window and grabbed the order before driving off. Great, now his boss would be mad at him because the till was short. Fortunately it was now the end of his shift and he gave a sigh of relief as he left. On his way out, his mom, June called. "Hey mom, I just got off."

"Okay honey. Should I expect you to be home or are you going to be at school tonight?" Heh, figures she'd ask about the dance. She'd actually been bugging him about getting a girlfriend (or even a boyfriend, _shudder_,) for the past three months. Well, at least she was finally somewhat moving on after _that _day. It only took her ten years.

"No, mom, I'm not going to the dance. Experience suggests I should _never_ cut a rug, unless I'm installing carpet."

"Fine, have it your way, but be careful on your way home."

"Be careful? Seriously? This is _Alamo_, not the Big Apple, mom. _Queens_ has more people in a _square mile _than this place has total," Jack replied with a strong emphasis on how absurd that sounded. Then, he saw _her_. The most perfect motorcycle he'd ever seen: a purple 2008 Kawasaki ZX-6R, high-performance engine, and the most beautiful lines he'd ever seen, even _with_ the pink highlights. "I love you," he said in a truly love and awe-struck voice. Then he remembered he was still on the phone. "Yeah, I love you too, mom, gotta run." He hung up the phone and walked to the motorcycle. "Hello, beautiful. Where have you been all my life?" He then ran his hands over the seat, testing the feel. "Nice," he decided, falling even more deeply in love with the bike.

Then he remembered his dreams, and the weird memories that they were. "Whoa, slow down there, Jack. Remember what happened to Sam when _he_ found the perfect car?"

_ What does he mean by that?_ Arcee wondered. She had been perfectly fine with the young man (sixteen or seventeen Earth-years old by her guess,) admiring her. She even liked it, it helped her remember fonder times with both Cliff and her first partner, Tailgate, which in turn helped her deal with their losses better. Now though, Jack had completely confused her. Who was this Sam and what had happened to him? And what was with that tiny electrical shock when he touched her?

"Ah, what are the chances of it happening twice?" Jack decided, taking a seat on Arcee, just to see how it felt, and it was _perfect_, just like the rest of her. "It may take a few KO paychecks, but I am going to own a ride like you someday."

Then Arcee was reminded of why she had hidden at the fast-food restaurant in the first place, as two Vehicons turned their high-beams onto her, and Jack. "Scrap," she whispered, just barely loud enough to hear herself. Then the Vehicons charged at her, and she instantly responded, much to Jack's surprise. He started screaming in shock and fear, as Arcee was heading straight at the 'Cons (well, more like between the twins.) She just managed to squeeze past them, tearing off the lower half of Jack's jeans, turning them into shorts. The 'Cons turned after the pair as soon as they could, chasing them down the street. "Do not let go," Arcee told Jack.

"Great, not again!" Jack replied, confusing the femme even more than before. Her confusion was so bad, that she allowed the 'Cons to catch up, and she just barely braked soon enough to make it so that they crashed into each other. Arcee pulled down a side-street and allowed Jack to get off. "What _are _you?" Jack asked, in an attempt to act like a normal human.

"I don't exist," Arcee replied, starting to relax. Now _that_ was more like it. Then, just to scare him even more, she said "Tell anyone about me, and I will hunt you down." Jack nodded before turning down another side-street. Satisfied, Arcee drove away, and the two headed their separate ways.

That is, until one of the Vehicons turned down the street that Jack had. "Scrap!" Arcee exclaimed. This was _not_ good! She pulled a quick U-turn and jumped over the Vehicon following her to save Jack.

Jack in the meantime was running at a normal, human speed from the second 'Con in order to make certain he'd rouse no more suspicions from the Cybertronians, if that was what they were. Then, while he doubted it would work, he told the 'Con "I don't even know her!"

As he suspected, the 'Con kept chasing him, but then something he _didn't_ expect happened: the bike returned before slowing down just long enough for her to say "Hop on!" Jack immediately obeyed, and the femme took off down the highway. The 'Cons continued to give chase, and revealed that they _were_ Decepticons by starting to shoot at them. However, the weapons they used were unlike the ones that Jack had seen in his dreams. The Cybertronians Sam knew fired canons with shells and needed to at least partially transform to their robot mode, while these Cybertronians were using directed energy weapons (DEWs,) or as they were commonly known, laser guns, and the guns were the only thing that had changed about the cars.

On the highway, a familiar canary-yellow Chevy Camaro with black racing stripes showed up, ramming the two 'Cons. "Good, he's a friend, right?" he asked the femme, just to make sure, (as Jack was fairly certain it was Bumblebee.)

"Family," Arcee corrected the human. She was surprised that he didn't have more questions for her. Not that she'd have answered, given the need to keep their existence a secret. Then she spotted something that just might give her and Bumblebee a chance to end the fight: an off-ramp that the humans were still in the middle of building. And even better, it would intimidate the human.

As a matter of fact, the jump did _not_ intimidate Jack, but he acted like it. When they landed, Jack noticed that a kid, no more than twelve or thirteen was sitting in front of them . . . with a remote control Bee? "Whoa," the kid said.

"You have no idea," Jack told him as he got off the femme. Then he realized that he recognized the kid. "Rafael, right? Rafael Esquivel? We go to the same school. You're the kid that skipped a grade or two, right?"

"Yeah, more like three or four grades, and call me Raf. Hey, when did you get a motorcycle?" Raf asked.

Jack was about to answer when he spotted the twins. "No time for explanations right now, Raf. Run!" Jack then ran for a nearby depression in the side of the 'river,' just in front of a storm pipe and took cover there, turning just in time to see Arcee change and declare "This ends here, 'Cons." She then charged at the Vehicons and started fighting them, hand to hand. Jack was impressed. Despite the memories that Sam had, he had never seen Cybertronians fighting like this. It was almost . . . elegant, like some kind of dance with death.

"What are they?" Raf asked, shaking Jack from his trance. He hadn't even noticed the other boy join him near the pipe.

"Giant robots that turn into talking cars," Jack explained, still not taking his eyes off of the fight. He was surprised to hear the femme saying something about how her fight was in vengeance for some bot called 'Cliff.' The only bots who had fought for revenge like that were the annoying twins, but Jack liked it. It made her seem more . . . human. But her rage turned against her as the Vehicon quickly recovered and shot her in the chest.

Before it could finish her off though, Bumblebee showed up, landing on one 'Con and hitting another before stepping on his face. Convinced they were down for a while, Bee stepped back from the 'Cons, and onto Raf's RC car. Jack then got confirmation that it was Bee due to one little detail: he couldn't speak English, only Cybertronian. Oddly though, Raf seemed to understand him just fine.

The little incident, however, distracted Bee from the 'Cons long enough that they recovered and shot him. It was about to turn into another Chicago incident when Raf yelled at the 'Cons, turning their attention towards them. "Bad call! Quick, inside the pipe!" Jack said taking off, with Raf right behind him. They got far enough inside for the 'Cons to be unable to reach them before turning around again.

"What did we just see?" Raf asked, after Bee checked on them.

"A really dangerous sight that we should probably forget," Jack said as they ran.

Inside the Autobot base (what used to be a nuclear missile silo that had been decommissioned after the Cold War,) Bumblebee, Arcee and Bulkhead were debriefing Optimus on what had happened in Alamo. Arcee was not happy about it. "-and the 'Cons would have been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human."

"_Human_?" Optimus asked. Bumblebee corrected Arcee, and Prime acknowledged, "Two boys."

Arcee was unsure, due to a hard hit to the head she had received. "I . . . guess a second one caught us in action? I don't know, was a little busy at the time," she said, her anger over the situation was clear in her voice.

Optimus however, was only concerned over the repercussions. "If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone _perceived_ as our ally will be at grave risk."

_April 20, 2012-Alamo, NV_

The next day Jack could barely concentrate on school, mainly because he was worried about what would happen now. He didn't _want_ to live Witwicky's life! Sure, being able to know about an alien race was cool, but an alien race in the middle of a war? Witwicky had lost his entire family because of this same war! Earth had been _killed_ and humanity _extinguished _because of the war! Then, Raf waved him over. As much as he wanted to avoid him, Jack knew it would be best if he made sure that Raf wouldn't talk about the battle they had been caught in the middle of. "Raf, hey. Look, let's just keep this between us, forget anything ever happened, okay?"

But before Raf could agree, Bee showed up, getting their attention. He then opened his passenger door and said something in Cybertronian. "He wants us to get in," Jack assumed, remembering what had happened to Sam Witwicky.

"No, just me," Raf corrected him.

Jack stared at him in amazement. "How do you know that?"

"It said so. Yours is over there," Raf said, pointing at the femme motorcycle. Raf then got inside Bee, despite Jack's protests, so Jack, determined to avoid the war altogether, walked away and ignored the bike. Arcee would have none of that though, and followed him. Unknown to her though, a third human, this one an enthusiastic Japanese exchange student named Miko Nakadai, followed Arcee, as she had also fallen in love with the motorcycle.

Once Arcee had caught up with Jack, she got in front of him and said "Relax, I just want to talk to you."

"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" Jack asked, surprisingly jealous of the woman riding the bike.

"Kid, there's a lot you don't understand," Arcee said, while revealing that the biker was just a hologram.

"No, no, I get it. The first rule of robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club," Jack quipped, backing off, though Arcee kept getting closer. Why couldn't anyone understand he didn't want to be a part of this? Wait a minute, that could work. "What you need to understand is that I don't want a bunch of talking vehicles following me around, trying to get me killed."

Arcee transformed, kneeling so she wouldn't overwhelm him. "Look, Jack, your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence."

"What?" Jack asked. Optimus was here, alive?

"You may be in danger because you are one of the few, one of the _only_ to have ever _seen_ us."

Then Miko decided to make her presence known. "Dude, what are you waiting for? Go with!"

"Scrap," the duo said in unison. Now they had to take _her_ along. Jack reluctantly agreed to go with the femme, if only to keep an eye on Miko, who had quite the reputation as an adrenaline junkie already despite having been in Alamo for only seven months. Arcee changed back to her vehicle mode to allow the humans to ride her, and immediately noticed something odd. Even allowing for their different sizes and gender gap, Jack was far heavier than he should be, compared to Miko. She quickly filed that away with the other oddities about the teen that she had noticed, including his use of 'scrap' just a few minutes earlier. By the AllSpark, if she didn't know any better, she'd have sworn that he already knew about them and had lived with them for years. But even if that could have been true, (which it definitely _wasn't_) why the hesitancy? Well, she'd figure it out eventually, or get it out of him, one way or another.

Jack was surprised when Arcee and Bee just started driving, eventually right towards one of the local mountains. "Another hologram hiding the door?" he asked.

"Not exactly," Arcee said, just as very large blast doors opened up, revealing a tunnel inside the rock. Using Sam's memories, Jack instantly recognized it as a missile silo, a far more secure location for an Autobot base than Diego Garcia or the DC warehouse. Inside were two more Autobots, one of them being Sam's favourite 'Bot to tease: Ratchet-though he had a different paint job from the one Sam had known. The other was an unknown, built a little like Ironhide, but even bigger, and it looked like he turned into a green SUV.

Once they stopped, Ratchet immediately asked "I thought there were two?"

"Haven't you heard, humans multiply," Jack teased. As was typical when Sam teased the medic, Ratchet just groaned.

The other two introduced themselves, with Miko immediately running up to the green warrior, who identified himself as Bulkhead. "Are you a car? I bet you're a truck, a monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Have you ever used a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" Miko asked, rattling questions off as fast as a machine gun. Bulkhead just stared at her in confusion, what was he supposed to do with this girl? Jack on the other hand simply shook his head, Miko was certainly living up to her reputation.

Raf had his own question. "So, if you guys are robots, who made you?" Ratchet scoffed at his question.

Jack decided to save the Autobots an explanation. "Raf, do you really think someone _made_ them? They're obviously an alien race from some distant planet."

"Jack is correct. We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. But you can call us Autobots for short," a _very_ distinctive voice said. Sure enough, behind them stood the great Optimus Prime, virtually identical to Sam's memories of him, though without the cool flame design that the other Optimus had. "Although, I do wonder how you knew that."

"Well, I know that humans don't have the tech to make something like you guys, so obviously, you're aliens. After all, 'once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' But that begs the question, why are you here, and who were the others that you were fighting? And why are they here?" Jack asked. He _really_ hoped that it wasn't about the AllSpark again.

"We are here to protect your planet from the Decepticons," Optimus started.

"They're the jokers that tried to bump us off last night," Arcee explained.

"As for why they are here, in part it is because our planet is uninhabitable, ravaged by centuries of civil war," Optimus finished.

"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf asked. _Hmm, a good question_, Jack thought. Sam hadn't even asked that.

"Foremost, in an attempt to bring a change to what had become a very static way of life. Also, over control of our world's supply of Energon, the fuel and lifeblood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce, and endured for centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one whom I considered a brother. But in war, ideals can be corrupted, and it was thus that Megatron lost his way." Megatron, Jack shuddered at the name. He'd had the occasional nightmare from the king Con due to Sam's memories.

Miko was bored over the history lesson, while Jack had another question. "So, what does Megatron, or any of this, have to do with us?"

"Megatron has not been seen nor heard from in some time. But if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic. And since you now know of our existence, I fear that as of last night, the Decepticons now know of yours."

"Got it, we see any strange vehicles, call 911. Can we go now?" Jack asked. Now that he knew they weren't needed for the war, he was desperate to get home and stay out of it.

"Are you _insane?_" Miko whispered to him. "I am living a dream here in _Bot_swana, and I will not allow you or anyone else to shatter it."

"It is best that you three remain under our watch," Optimus interjected. "At least until we can determine our enemy's intention." Ratchet brought a fairly reasonable objection to them staying there, saying that the Autobots could step on them, emphasizing that with a heavy step. Jack shuddered, if only in fear that the medic could unknowingly reveal his secret. "Then for the time being, Ratchet, we must watch where we step," Optimus answered.

Then an alarm started sounding, which Bumblebee (via Raf,) identified as a proximity sensor, saying someone (whom Ratchet identified as Agent Fowler,) was up top. "Wait, I thought we were the only humans who knew about you," Miko objected.

"Miko, do you really think that the government wouldn't have noticed them come here? This Fowler is probably their official liaison with the government. And considering what happened yesterday, he's probably not in a good mood."

"Indeed," Optimus agreed. "Jack is correct, under the circumstances, it would be best if you did not meet at this time." Jack and the others quickly hid, while Jack kept an eye out. From the elevator came a fat black man in a suit who immediately started complaining about a whole mess of traffic incidents that had been caused the other night. Personally, he didn't know why he was_ that_ mad, that was nothing compared to the Washington and Vegas street fights, let alone (_shudder_) Chicago. Optimus on the other hand simply said "We have the situation under control."

"They're back, aren't they?"

"If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have doubts that they ever left. Your planet is much too valuable," Optimus replied. Jack had to agree with that. If he had learned anything about the 'Cons from Witwicky, it was that they _never_ gave up on anything, especially something they considered valuable.

"Then it's time to wake up the Pentagon," Fowler insisted. Jack scoffed at that, remembering how useless the military had been against the Transformers before they stumbled on sabot rounds, and again wondered why he was so mad, it hadn't been _that_ bad. The more the man talked, the more Jack was reminded of Galloway, and that was _not_ a good thing. Optimus agreed with the first part, and told Fowler that they were possibly the only defence against the Decepticons. "Says you," Fowler dismissed.

"Hey fleshie, did anyone get splattered on that freeway? Team Prime knows when to use force, and how much to use," Bulkhead stated, illustrating his point by ripping out then crushing a device that Jack didn't recognize. And as Ratchet yelled at Bulkhead (apparently the device had belonged to the medic,) Jack had to agree with the 'Bot, though he resented the 'fleshie' comment, it almost sounded like Bulkhead didn't have any respect for humans. Maybe working with the 'bots would be a good . . . no, he couldn't risk thinking like that.

Eventually Fowler left, but not without giving an ultimatum first: to take care of the Decepticons, or he would. Not ten minutes after he left, Ratchet cried out "Blasted Earth tech! Cliffjumper's life signal just popped back online." By the way Arcee flinched at the name, Jack had to guess that she was close to the mech. Miko on the other hand just wanted to know who he was, and Optimus asked how it was possible. "It isn't. Another bug, the system's chock full of them!" Ratchet complained.

"If there's any chance Cliff's alive-" Arcee started. Optimus immediately knew what she meant, and ordered Ratchet to prepare sick bay and left through . . . something with everyone but Ratchet, although Miko attempted to go with them.

"What was that?" Raf asked Ratchet.

"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the ground bridge."

"What's a groundbridge?"

"A scaled-down version of spacebridge technology," Ratchet somewhat explained, sounding quite exasperated. Jack had to shudder at the name of the technology that had once doomed the human race. "Since we don't currently possess the means or the Energon required for intergalactic travel . . ." Ratchet continued.

Jack knew what he was implying immediately. "You're stuck here. But don't you have any ships?"

"Not any more. The first thing the Decepticons did when they discovered we were here was to destroy our ship, and Arcee and Cliffjumper arrived via a Decepticon spacebridge that was destroyed on Cybertron."

"So, who is Cliffjumper?" Miko asked again.

"Cliffjumper is . . . was one of greatest warriors on Cybertron during the war. Fast, strong, cocky, always getting into fights with the Decepticons even when it wasn't necessary. And he was an extreme chatterbox, nothing could shut him up, not even a fight or being in the presence of the most feared Decepticons. After Cybertron went dark and most of us left, Cliffjumper and Arcee were one of the few to remain behind. From what I've been able to piece together, the two were captured by Starscream, Megatron's second-in-command, and were used to crack an Autobot code that was used by Optimus to send a message when we arrived here. Starscream then used that message to target this planet with a spacebridge in an attempt to destroy us. But before he could send a single Decepticon through, Arcee and Cliffjumper damaged the space bridge and came through it before the bridge was destroyed. The two of them had been partners ever since."

Just then, one of the computers went off, reminding everyone of Ratchet's original complaint. "So, why are you guys using _human_ computers?" Raf asked.

"It certainly isn't by choice," Ratchet said just a tad too harshly. "It was handed down by the previous tenants when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit." Just as he finished speaking, six more bugs made themselves known.

"Hey, Raf, you wouldn't happen to have your laptop on you by any chance?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, why do you . . . hey, great idea, Jack!" Raf said as he realized where Jack was going with his question.

Ratchet also had an idea about what Jack was thinking, and was not impressed. "You do realize this is complex technology, right? I mean, it's not a child's toy."

Jack just laughed at that. "It is here, Ratchet. We grow up around computers and know them so well that the government is hiring right out of high school these days in order to have the best people for their computers. And Raf here is easily the smartest of all of us."

As Jack had been praising Raf, the boy in question had set up his laptop and quickly hacked into the base's computer. With a few quick keystrokes, Raf said "Try it now." Doubtful, Ratchet checked the computer, if only to prove the humans wrong. But to his surprise, the bugs had all been cleared out. Ratchet turned to Raf, a newfound respect shining from his optics. Well, at least this was one human that was worth keeping around.


	3. Darkness Rising Part 2

**A/N:** Well now, this is quickly becoming one of my most popular stories! And I currently have one more chapter completed that I will be publishing next week, I promise! And you _will_ be learning about Sam's story and connection to Jack, _but_ it's not going to happen until I hit Season 2 and the hunt for the Iacon relics, sorry. I just need to decide WHEN in Season 2.

**More Than Meets the Eye**

**Chapter II: Darkness Rising Part II**

_April 20, 2012-Autobot Outpost Omega One, NV_

Within five minutes of Raf fixing the computers, the trio had decided that if they were to spend any amount of time at the base, they would need to bring something to keep themselves busy as the only thing even mildly entertaining was exploring the base, and Ratchet didn't want them touching anything. They were just discussing which games would be appropriate to bring when, without warning, Jack felt a jolt in his spark. Great, now he had a bond with Arcee, what would he get from Sam's life next?! Well, at least he can understand _his_ sparkmate easily, unlike Sam-who'd been bonded to Bumblebee. Then another, far more painful tug hit, and Jack knew that something terrible had happened. "Ratchet, open the ground bridge to the team, now!"

Ratchet turned to glare at him. "And why should I do that? We brought you here to protect you, not so that the Decepticons could kill you or so that you could have some thrills."

"No, it's for Optimus and the team, they're going to need it, and soon!"

Ratchet just scoffed at that. "Puh-lease. How could you possibly know that? I mean it's not like you could know what's going on there."

Just as he finished speaking, the comm sounded and Optimus called out _"Ratchet, bridge us back! Use the arrival coordinates, now!"_

Only centuries of experience kept the shock from showing on Ratchet's face. Miko and Raf on the other hand had no such experience to keep their shock in check. Raf just thought it was cool, while Miko demanded to know how he knew they'd need the bridge. Jack though could only focus on Arcee. Despite his worries about the possible consequences of knowing the Autobots, and how short a time he had known them, Jack was already starting to care for them, especially Arcee. When the groundbridge opened, the four 'Bots came in just ahead of an Energon explosion, with Optimus just barely avoiding getting burned. "Cutting it a bit close," Ratchet noted. "How about Cliffjumper?" he asked, noting that the other Bot wasn't there.

Miko immediately started asking a hundred questions, but Jack quickly shut her up with a hand to her mouth. Optimus asked Arcee what she saw and she answered "Not Cliff, at least, not anymore. He was mutated, _butchered_, like something from those 'Con experiments during the war." Then, to Jack's surprise, Arcee nearly fainted, and he ran to her, only for _him_ to collapse when he got close. Ratchet was justly concerned, wondering what could have happened to cause both Jack and Arcee to collapse and started scanning Arcee. He quickly found a strange liquid, but the only answer he was given about it was where it came from: "Cliff was covered in it, leaking it," Arcee told him.

"Go take a decontamination bath," Ratchet ordered after taking a sample. Then, noticing Jack's reaction, deliberately moved the sample past the other kids. He was shocked to find out that they reacted as if it was nothing more than water, despite being much closer to the sample. Hmm, this would take some investigation. Then, while Jack recovered, Raf noticed the time, and the fact that there was no cell reception. So, in order to protect them _and_ to accommodate curfew, Optimus assigned each of them a guardian 'Bot. Miko got Bulkhead, while Raf was assigned to Bumblebee. Optimus tried to assign Ratchet to Jack, but due to his work on the substance passed him on to Arcee-not that Jack minded. He far preferred the passionate ninja to the doc-bot who had earned a well-deserved nickname of Hatchet in Sam's reality, and seemed well on his way to re-earning it here.

After ground-bridging most of the way home, Jack rode Arcee the rest of the way. Inside the garage, Jack tried to sympathize with her about Cliffjumper, but she wasn't having any of it. "What could you possibly know about loss?" she demanded.

"More than you could possibly know," Jack whispered. Though he himself had only lost his dad, and that was about ten years ago, he felt Sam's losses as his own. Jazz's disappearance in Vegas, Optimus' first death in New York, Sam's parents and Mikaela in Egypt, then the Twins and Ironhide in Washington, the mess that was Chicago, the planet Earth, his friend and CO Will Lennox and countless others. But Arcee either couldn't or refused to hear the pain in his voice and brushed it off as girl problems. "Please, the only girl problems I have are all because of you, Arcee." Just then his mom showed up, very upset at seeing Arcee (in motorcycle form,) and only allowed Jack to 'keep her' if he promised to always wear his helmet, and to occasionally allow her a ride.

That night, Jack was unable to sleep well as his night was troubled by nightmares, all featuring a single being: an enormous Transformer with purple eyes and large horns coming out of his helmet, and Megatron . . . as a faithful servant? "Megatron, what have you done?" Jack whispered.

_April 21, 2012-Autobot Outpost Omega One, NV_

The next morning, Arcee started revving her engine to wake Jack up at seven in the morning telling him it was time to go. Just before they left though, she told him to leave a note for his mom. Huh, who knew that she'd sympathize? Later, out on the open road, she opened up, saying that he might enjoy the ride since they weren't being shot at. Jack couldn't help but grin at the suggestion and by the time they arrived at base, they were both in very good moods.

But Arcee's mood dropped as Optimus took Ratchet out on a mission and left the other three behind, and Arcee in charge. And though Optimus claimed it was mere reconnaissance, both Jack and Arcee heard the worry in his voice: this mission could be very dangerous. But the two left anyway and out of sheer frustration, Arcee simply left on patrol and took Bee with her, leaving Bulkhead in charge. Miko immediately decided to try and turn them into a band, but Jack refused to join _that_ disaster-waiting-to-happen. He quickly found an unused room near the main hall for him, Miko and Raf to use for themselves, and decided to try something. Reaching deep within himself, Jack found the AllSpark energy and tried to use that to recreate the Cube, or at least, part of it.

He had just managed to create a corner of the shrunken Cube when the proximity sensor went off. He ran to the door, only to find Agent Fowler there already. He yelled out for Prime, only for Bulkhead to tell him he was the only one there. "Well, where the hell did he go? Wait, don't tell me, he's out pancaking a mini-mall. Now I don't know what language you 'Bots speak on your planet, but Prime promised he would handle the Decepticons, and blowing a crater in the middle of Nebraska is _not_ what the word 'handle' means in English! So you tell Prime-" Then he noticed the cord that led from Miko's guitar to the speaker. "Since when are you 'Bots electric?" he asked curiously. So they had no choice but to reveal their presence to an already upset Fowler. And as Jack expected, he was far from happy. "Contact with civilians! Team Prime has really gone off book this time. Wait, don't tell me, you're running a day-care center!"

At this, Jack nearly lost his temper at Fowler. "Listen, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a slight case of the 'Con's being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The 'Bots did the responsible thing and decided to protect us to the best of their abilities, something I doubt that the government would be able to do. Besides, we've already been able to help them out, and we'll give them a more personal reason to protect Earth. Now, let us be, or you'll have to explain yourself to Optimus."

Fowler scowled at Jack. "I don't answer to him, I answer to the Triskelion. And I'm taking all three of you into Federal custody. It's for your own protection."

Fortunately for the kids, Bulkhead put his foot down, literally. "_We're_ protecting them."

"Is that so? Well, maybe you can explain that to my superiors," Fowler stated in a rage as he walked to an old corded phone. But again Bulkhead interfered by crushing the phone with a single, large finger. That simply enraged Fowler all the more. "This isn't over, Bigfoot, not by a long shot!" Then he stormed out of the base, obviously intent on telling his boss about Jack and his . . . could he call them friends yet?

Then not ten minutes later, a blaring alarm started going off, shrill enough that it hurt Raf's ears. Bulk quickly identified it as an SOS from Fowler, but "Location scan was incomplete. Oh well."

Jack could not believe his ears. "Oh well? Seriously?" Was Bulkhead really suggesting that they leave Fowler to the Decepticons? Bulkhead's explanation was simply that Fowler was a jerk. "Whoa! Whether you like the guy or not, and believe me, I don't, the Decepticons may have him!" The others were quick to add their own objections, as Raf realized that Fowler knew where they were, and Miko figured Fowler would back down from any Transformer after his confrontation with Bulk.

Fortunately for them, Raf managed to hack into the government database in order to track down Fowler and Bulkhead immediately bridged there, leaving Jack in charge. Jack turned to the others to find other ideas about what they could do, and immediately discovered that Miko was gone, through the ground bridge with Bulkhead! She couldn't have worried Jack more unless she had bridged herself straight to Megatron himself! "Miko hasn't seen the 'Cons in action like we have," Jack mentioned to Raf. "She has no idea what she's in for." Luckily, Bulk's coordinates were still locked in, so Jack decided to go after her, but not before turning to Raf and telling him "You're in charge."

"In charge of who?" he asked.

"Not who, what. You're going to run the ground bridge for us. Optimus and Ratchet are still out there, and when Bulkhead realizes Miko is there, he'll either call for support or a bridge, which means you're needed right here." Raf nodded, and activated the bridge, allowing Jack to join Miko and Bulk on the other side.

_April 21, 2012-McCullough Range, NV_

Jack had to say, so far he preferred this kind of bridging over Jetfire's bridge, there was a far smaller chance of getting hurt. Unfortunately the first thing he laid eyes on was the Decepticons ship, _not_ Miko or Bulkhead, and the 'Cons had spotted him. "Scrap," he whispered, and, unbeknownst to him, in perfect unison with Miko and Bulk. The 'Cons immediately opened fire, and Jack immediately started dodging the shots with inhuman agility. If he knew where Bulk and Miko were, he'd have started shooting, but he wasn't quite ready to reveal his secret to them and so, he resorted to simply dodging, while vowing to himself to get some human weapons, whether he stayed with the Bots or not! Bulkhead quickly showed up, allowing Jack to jump in. "Wh-What are you doing here?" he asked in shock.

"We were worried about Miko, she's not at base. Have you seen her?" Jack asked.

Then, as cheeky as you please, Miko popped up in the back and asked "What's she look like?"

Before they could continue the conversation, Bulk drove up behind a large pile of rubble so that the rubble was between him and the ship and kicked them out. Jack was grateful to get out, but just as Bulk drove off, he realized that Miko had stayed in Bulk. "Oh, she is _so_ going to regret that," Jack grinned, remembering how Sam had fared during the Beltway battle. He quickly ran to the side of the rubble to watch Bulkhead work. The muscle car drove to a point under the ship before turning around to use a rise in the ground as a ramp so he could climb up to the ship where he immediately threw one of the . . . were those drones? off the ship. Once on the top of the ship, he beheaded one drone with his maces before using the body as a shield and body-slamming another drone. Only then did he realize that Miko wasn't with Jack. Both of them were incredibly surprised to find that Miko was _still inside _Bulkhead at the time! "Miko?!" Bulk asked in surprise when he revealed her insider his chest.

"I heaved on your floor mats, sorry," she told him (clearly still suffering from motion sickness,) just before he set her down. "Remind me never to do that," she continued, just before he was tackled by another drone. Bulk quickly crushed the drone, but not before more drones appeared and started firing at him. He shot another one, but realizing he would never last against their numbers, quickly tore what appeared to be a satellite dish off the ship and used it as a weapon to take down the remaining reinforcements.

But while Jack watched Bulk in action, another drone appeared behind him and picked him up, carrying him into the ship as a second prisoner, though not before running into . . . was that possibly Soundwave? He sure looked different from Sam's memories! The 'Con seemed to scan him, then, apparently making a decision, took his phone, did something to it, but then just gave it back to Jack before walking off. "Bring him to the brig, Commander Starscream is keeping the other prisoner there," a drone ordered to the one holding Jack. Jack grinned at that, and even more so when he noticed that Bee and Arcee had arrived to back up Bulkhead. Once the two drones were down, Jack turned to the duo and said "Thanks, you couldn't have timed that better."

"We appreciate you clearing the front door for us, but storming the Decepticon warship was _not_ on the activities list," Arcee told her charge.

Naturally Jack could not resist replying "Tell me about it. But you have to admit, there _wasn't_ an activities list. You left before we could create one. Besides, at least I managed to convince Raf to stay behind, right?"

Arcee had to agree with that, and they turned to find Bulkhead. They eventually found him by Arcee nearly shooting him. "Brought the humans, huh?" Arcee joked.

"You try getting them to stay behind!" Bulkhead protested.

"Hey, I'm only here because Miko refused to stay behind!" Jack retorted.

"Well, we need to find Fowler and get you two out of here," Arcee responded.

"Uh, he's in the brig," Jack explained. As the trio of 'Bots fought their way to the brig, Jack was constantly pulling or pushing Miko out of the way so that neither would be crushed by the flying debris, or, on occasion, falling 'Bots. Fortunately for the duo, Arcee quickly realized that it was too dangerous for them and cleared a room for them to stay in. "Wait in here," she ordered. Bee tried to object, but Arcee shut him down. "They're slowing us down, easy targets, and it's too dangerous for them. They'll be alright in here, as long as they stay put," she finished, looking directly at the teens.

"_That _was intense!" Miko exclaimed in joy.

"Was? What were you thinking, Miko? We could all have been killed because of you!" Jack admonished her.

"Did I _ask_ you to follow me?"

"I was simply trying to do what Optimus would have wanted, keep you safe!"

"But you're _not_ Optimus, and you can leave my protection to Bulkhead, thank you very much!" To Jack's surprise, she was mad enough to actually _hit_ him! And she didn't just hit him, she punched him in a place that, if he were fully human, would have left him gasping for breath. Unfortunately for Miko, he _wasn't_ fully human, and she was left with an aching hand. "God, Jack, that's not a six-pack, that's a steel keg! I know guys like to say that they have muscles of steel, but I didn't think they meant it literally!"

Jack turned his head so that she wouldn't see his smirk, then his eyes widened as he saw something that the 'Cons were working on. He quickly pulled out his phone and called the base, but not before telling Miko to take a picture of it. "Raf, Miko's about to send you a picture of something. Tell me what you make of it."

Within seconds of Miko sending the picture, Raf replied. _"It's important. I don't know what it's for, but I know math when I see it, and that is one serious equation. Any chance you could download it?"_

"Sorry Raf, no can do. Even if we had a flash drive, there's no place to plug it into. This ship is pure Cybertronian, no human-compatible tech anywhere." Just then another drone came into the room. "Sorry Raf, but I have to go now. We're on the Decepticon's warship, and another drone just came in here!" Unfortunately for him, he took too long ending the call and the drone spotted him, forcing him and Miko to leave the room or be killed.

But just before the drone could shoot again, Bulkhead showed up just in time to crush it, and the other 'Bots were not far behind. Arcee had one thing to say to her charge: "I told you to stay put!"

"Hey, we did until the drone found us. What were we supposed to do, let it kill us?" Arcee had to give him that, and quickly led them off the ship and into Raf's waiting ground bridge.

_April 21, 2012-Autobot Outpost Omega One, NV_

Within minutes of their return to the base, Optimus and Ratchet also returned, and it was clear that they had also returned from a battle, and a bad one if the damage on Ratchet was anything to go by. Miko actually sounded worried when she asked what happened to them, and Ratchet explained that they had fought a whole _army_ of undead Transformers. Then she was back to her old self as she exclaimed "Zombies? You fought zombies and I missed it?"

"Miko, don't you think what we went through was intense enough?!" Jack asked in shock. Miko simply ignored him. Optimus then chastised Bulk for letting them go with him, and Miko tried to defend him. Jack then turned to Raf and asked "Haven't you shown them that equation yet?"

"No, actually. I haven't had a chance to yet."

"Equation? What equation?" Ratchet demanded. Miko picked up her phone to show him, but when he looked, he pulled back in confusion. "I . . . don't understand."

Miko, also confused, took a look at the picture she had pulled up. "Oh, that's the 'Con that tried to blow Jack away. Or at least that's what he looked like _before_ Bulkhead rearranged his grille!"

Jack finally lost his temper with the girl again. "Miko, we were almost killed! This isn't a game, this is war. When are you going to get it through your thick skull?"

"Um, we were _all_ almost killed. You, me, Fowler, even them."

Then Jack made the hardest decision of his life. "Well, if this was just an average day with the Autobots, then I don't want to be a part of it. Not anymore. God, I didn't even want to be a part of this to begin with!"

"Jack, putting you in harm's way was never out intent," Optimus stated. "However, it is no longer the safety of you three that is at risk from Megatron, but the safety of the entire human race. We will respect your decision if you wish to leave."

Immediately after Optimus finished speaking, Ratchet opened the ground bridge. "No point in long goodbyes, here's the door."

Jack really wished he could teach the medic a lesson before he left, but he knew he couldn't. Then, making one last attempt at protecting Raf, he asked the younger boy to come with him. Raf just turned to look at Bee's pitiful look (one that Jack knew all too well,) and said "I'll be okay, Jack. See you at school."

"Sure thing," he replied, and walked to the bridge. But before he could leave, Arcee stepped in front of him. "I know, you don't exist," Jack said, cutting her off.

"Don't make me hunt you down," the femme replied as he walked past her. But because he never looked back, he missed the sadness in her eyes. He never turned back, despite the pain in his spark that he knew came from her.


	4. Darkness Rising Part 3

**More Than Meets the Eye**

**Chapter III: Darkness Rising Part III**

_April 22, 2012-Alamo, NV_

Jack was feeling absolutely terrible. Ever since he left the Autobots, he couldn't get them out of his head, or stop feeling so guilty. Though he buried himself in homework and his job, he couldn't stifle Sam's voice in his head saying that he had abandoned Optimus, that he had abandoned his _family_. Miko had come by the previous night to try and convince him to come back by appealing to his sense of adventure, but he was still resolved enough at the time to say no. Now, he almost felt like _Hatchet_ on a _bad _day could convince him to come back if he tried! Wait, did he just seriously think that? Luckily for him, he didn't jinx himself, as when he got off work, it was Arcee waiting for him. "Nice bike," she jokingly said about his current mode of transport.

But despite his burning desire to return, he had to try to live a normal life. "Arcee, really, Miko already tried. Tell Optimus I respect him big time, but if you're at war with the Decepticons, there's nothing I can do to help." The by-now nearly infinitesimal part of him that still wanted to be normal, despite the memories and knowledge he held, hoped that she would be discouraged and leave.

But Arcee was tougher than he had hoped. "Optimus didn't send me, and no one's asking for your help."

"Okay, so if we both agree that I'm not warrior material, then why are you here?"

"Jack, you know I just lost someone I cared about. Maybe it's the grief talking, maybe you're growing on me, maybe it's the fact that when you left, it felt like my spark was breaking. But whatever it is, I'm just not ready to say goodbye."

Jack's own spark nearly broke at that, and he couldn't do anything but say "Alright, I'll come back with you, Arcee." And with that, he climbed aboard and the two of them rode back to the base.

Oddly enough, by the time they arrived, Optimus was ordering the 'Bots to roll out. When Arcee asked where they were going, Miko's simple response was "The final frontier."

"Space? But I thought you didn't have any way to get there?" Jack had to ask. Raf confirmed they didn't, except for an extremely dangerous attempt to use the groundbridge.

As such, they quickly said their goodbyes, though Jack was now sorely tempted to reveal his secret just to be able to watch over them. Ratchet on the other hand was quite simply upset at the risk. "Optimus, if you leave me stranded on a planet teeming with humans, I will _never _forgive you."

While they waited for news, Raf filled Jack in with what Optimus had figured out since he left. Apparently Megatron had returned with a substance called Dark Energon-a substance with the ability to revive the dead, and was planning on launching it through his space bridge to Cybertron in order to raise an enormous army of zombiecons to conquer the Earth and defeat Optimus. Yet five minutes after the _Nemesis_ arrived at the spacebridge, nothing had happened. Curious, Optimus quickly scanned the ship and discovered that the _Nemesis'_ interstellar navigation system had been damaged. When Bulk mentioned that he had done that, Jack just barely managed to keep from laughing as he realized that _that_ must have been the dish that Bulk had used the previous day! When Optimus mentioned that, as a result of the damage, Megatron wouldn't be able to lock onto Cybertron, Raf had an objection. "Wait, don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?"

Jack spoke up before Ratchet could. "Of course they do, Raf, but Cybertron is thousands of light-years away. If the spacebridge is off by so much as a millimeter, the vortex could miss Cybertron by light-years. Their aim has to literally be astronomically precise, or it's just a waste of Energon." Optimus agreed, but added the caveat that Megatron wouldn't have come without a way to aim the bridge remotely.

Ratchet could only scoff at the idea. "From what I know of Earth's technology, I doubt there exists a single radio telescope dish on this planet powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron."

"What about a whole bunch of _linked _radio telescope dishes?" Raf suggested. "Like the Very Large Array in New Mexico," he offered as an example.

"Hmm, good idea, Raf," Jack said. "But how will we know which one is the right array? I mean, there are something like a dozen arrays just in America."

"That is actually the easy part," Ratchet stated. "Though it's rare that we do so, we _can_ find the Decepticons, if they aren't in a shielded area, such as a mine or the _Nemesis_. So, assuming that Soundwave will actually be there instead of remotely controlling the array, we will be able to find him easily," Ratchet explained. Going to the computer, he quickly scanned New Mexico and found nothing. He then widened his search until "Ah hah! Soundwave is at the Hat Creek Observatory, using the Allen Telescope Array." Jack raised his eyebrows at that and asked Ratchet to repeat Soundwave's location. When Ratchet did so, Jack couldn't help but burst out laughing. "And what is so funny?"

Jack didn't speak again until he caught his breath, then he explained. "The Allen Array is controlled by SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, an organization dedicated to finding alien life! How ironic can you get?" Raf and Miko both started laughing at that while Raf went to work hacking into the array, but he failed, unable to get inside SETI's firewalls. "Raf, what if we could get you all the way in? Like inside the building in? Would you be able to stop Soundwave from locking onto Cybertron? Would you be willing to take the risk?" Optimus immediately refused, but Jack wasn't taking it. "Optimus, with all due respect, you said it yourself yesterday, this is bigger than the safety of three humans. It should be up to Raf whether or not he goes to the array."

Miko immediately voiced her support, and Optimus decided to leave it up to Raf. Raf didn't hesitate to say "I want to give it a shot." Ratchet gave the young hacker one of his rare smiles, and opened the ground bridge.

_April 22, 2012-Hat Creek Observatory-290 Miles North of San Francisco_

Seconds later, and the trio were on their first official mission for the Autobots. They managed to enter the control center of the array easily, as the door wasn't locked, and no one was in the building. Miko made a point of mentioning that "Security sure is lax in this place. Hey, what are you doing?" she asked when she saw that Jack was placing a chair at one corner of the room they'd chosen to work in.

"This place has been abandoned for a few years due to a lack of funding and was only reactivated about six months ago. As for what I'm doing, remember, Soundwave is here, so when Raf starts messing with the telescopes, he's going to be searching the building just to be sure. Better he finds out that a camera isn't working than _know_ that we're actually here," Jack replied as he cut the cord leading from the camera to the wall. As he did so, Raf hacked into the telescope controls and discovered the spacebridge schematics and immediately downloaded them while battling Soundwave and his attempts to align the bridge. As the two battled for control of the telescopes, a piece of the schematics showed who was winning: three overlapping spheres, two of which finished overlapping as they watched, and the last grew closer to the others when Soundwave was winning and further apart when Raf was.

Soundwave could not understand what was happening. Why was it that just when it seemed he had finished locking onto Cybertron at this location, the dishes seemed to move against him? Laserbeak had encountered no trouble at the other two sites, so why here? He quickly scanned through the security tapes (humans were so courteous to him in providing them,) and found nothing except for one dead camera. Curious. He reversed the data stream and found the problem: three of the dominant native life forms that couldn't be more than the human equivalent of mechlings at the most!

Soundwave was a rarity among the Decepticons. Not only did he rarely fight and not only was he Megatron's information guru, he also had a code of honour that even the staunchest Autobot would appreciate. He was loyal, he never tortured anyone or did any of those terrible experiments like the monster Airachnid or Knockout loved to do, and he absolutely refused to kill anyone unless they were actual fighters. So a situation like this was extremely difficult for him. What could he do? He needed to complete his mission, yet he would never kill these humans, so what could be done that would satisfy both Megatron _and_ his honour?

Then the solution came to him: all he needed to do was buy enough time for him to finish his mission and then cut the hard-line so that the youngest (was he even a mechling yet, or was he still a youngling?) couldn't stop him. The master spy sent one of his cords into their room and quickly grabbed the eldest human and tossed him around a little, while accidentally catching the femme in the process. Once they were out of the way, he sent the cord after his nemesis, scaring him away from the computer long enough to destroy it. When the femme tried to attack him with a human weapon (designation: axe,) he knocked her away while grabbing the axe. Soundwave was about to scare them when he completed his mission, so he retracted the cord and used the axe to cut the hard-line. The trio of humans burst in on him as he was about to leave, and the femme took a picture of him, so he did the same before transforming and flying to the ship. Megatron would be pleased.

_April 22, 2012-Alamo, NV_

They had all failed. Raf had failed to keep the spacebridge from locking on to Cybertron, and now Optimus had failed to keep the Dark Energon from going through to Cybertron. Jack's entire being had _burned_ when the Dark Energon hit Cybertron, he _knew_ beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Dark Energon was the blood of Unicron the Chaos Bringer, and now it had infected Primus' body, raising all the dead on Cybertron. _**No, my child,**_a voice suddenly said in his mind. It sounded vaguely like the Seven had when they spoke to Sam. _**That is because I am, in some way, their father. I am Primus. The dead that Megatron is now in control of are only those that were never properly buried, though the blood of Unicron does harm me.**_ Primus himself! Sam had never had a conversation with _the_ creator of the Transformers, the being that had _become_ Cybertron! But why was he contacting him now? _**It is because I wish to give you hope, my child. Even now Ratchet and Raf are telling Arcee how to destroy the spacebridge, thus saving your world. Darkness is rising on your world, Jackson Darby, and you will help the Autobots to combat it, eventually as your true self. If all goes well, then the war will end soon, and all will be one again.**_

_ Why me, Primus? Why was I chosen for this? And how will I know when the time is right to reveal the truth?_

_** My child, your fate was tied to Optimus even before Sam's essence merged with you. It is your destiny throughout the multiverse to meet my children, only the circumstances change. In this one, even without Sam's influence, you would have still met Arcee, still left and still returned to the Autobots. The only difference is that now, you will be able to be able to influence the outcome far more than if you were merely human. And you will know the time is right to reveal your secret when you see an old friend arrive here. He shall call you another name, and when he recovers, then shall you reveal the truth about yourself. Now, return to your family, for they have succeeded.**_

Primus left none too soon, as Jack immediately felt a severe hit to his gut, and he knew that Arcee had been hurt, badly. Jack didn't notice Ratchet opening the groundbridge, nor did he hear when the medic tell Optimus. His only thought was to Arcee, and their weakening bond. He quickly sent her a burst of AllSpark energy so that she could hold on just long enough for Ratchet to be able to start his repairs.

After what seemed to be an eternity of waiting, the Autobots started coming in. Optimus had clearly gone up against Megatron, and bore the wounds of his match against the undefeated gladiator of Kaon. Bulkhead looked no worse for the wear, then Bumblebee came running in, carrying Arcee. Both boys ran for the duo, Jack immediately going to hold Arcee's limp hand. He barely heard Ratchet ask the AllSpark that they wouldn't have to lose a second member, as he watched her eyes flutter and then barely open. "Arcee," he whispered, barely holding in the pain and fear.

"Really, Jack? There are other motorcycles in the world," she joked back.

He smiled back at her. "But you're my first, and no other bike on Earth could compare to you." He then turned to Sam's former guardian and said "Thanks for getting her, Bee. I don't know if I can ever repay you."

Then, to his surprise, Bee answered back saying _"Ah, it was nothing."_ Raf quickly translated (sort of, he said that it meant 'don't mention it,') and Ratchet led his patient back to the med-room.

Just then, Miko asked Optimus the most pertinent question ever: "So, is this the part where you say goodbye and tell us we need to forget we ever saw you?"

Optimus pondered that before answering. "I do not know, Miko. Bulkhead and Bumblebee will accompany you home tonight, while I decide the answer to your question."

_ Without a means of leaving this world, we Autobots take strength in the bonds we have forged with our three young friends. True warriors, if not in body, then in spirit. My name is Optimus Prime, and I send this message: though we did not choose to be of Earth, it would seem we are here to stay. If you approach this planet with hostile intent, know this: we will defend ourselves. We will defend humanity. We will defend our home._

_May 13, 2012-Somewhere in Afghanistan_

For the second time in two days, Soundwave had to wonder just what Starscream was thinking in raising these sleeping warriors when the only reason Megatron would leave them there was because they were completely loyal to him. Oh well, at least it relieved the monotony of the day. But then, _nothing _could compare to what had happened yesterday! He had made no better decision than to bug Jack's phone! Oh, how Ratchet provided laughs then. He actually tried to help humans with their science projects and then took over the projects and turned them into projects that a youngling would do! Surely, even the most ignorant Cybertronian wouldn't do something so foolish, or at least, so he had thought. Fortunately for the humans, Jack convinced the others to complete their projects on their own and turned in Ratchet's projects after the class as evidence of their 'internship.' The teacher, having seen them, pronounced them 'the worst scientific creations I have ever seen, they show little if any hint of anything even resembling promise in the field of robotics.' And while Ratchet was a source of amusement, Jack was an enigma. The oddest thing was that when Ratchet suggested that they learn more about Cybertron, Jack scoffed at the suggestion, almost as if he _couldn't_ learn more about Cybertron. Why would he think that? Too bad the locator beacon wasn't working, why was that?

Just as he finished reminiscing, they arrived at the second sarcophagus, and this one contained a Decepticon far more dangerous than Skyquake could ever be. This sleeper was as loyal to Megatron as Soundwave was himself, yet his weapons were powerful enough that it _just might_ be possible for him to beat Megatron, and the few times that he had battled Optimus, the Prime had taken some serious damage. And to make things worse, this one was a true monster, willing to kill anyone and destroy anything in order to complete his mission, even sparklings!

As at the resting place of Skyquake, Starscream proclaimed himself the warrior's new master. "I serve only one master, as you well know, Stiletto!" the mech declared, calling him by the nickname he had created for the Seeker.

"Yes, well, about him, Megatron is quite possibly on his way to join the Well of All Sparks. So, until he awakens, _I _am you master."

The other mech seemed about to laugh, until it looked at Soundwave, who simply shook his head. No, this was not the time to eliminate him, for now, play along. So, the mech did so. "Very well, Commander Starscream. Until Lord Megatron awakens, Blackout is yours to command." Blackout then transformed to his original, Cybertronian alt mode and followed the duo, until he discovered a US military helicopter, model MH-53 type J/M Pave Low which he quickly scanned and reformatted into. With an appropriate vehicle mode acquired, the trio bridged back to the _Nemesis_, prepared for another showdown with Optimus and his allies.

**A/N:** Okay, first, Primus will only rarely show up, much like Alpha Trion did in the show. Second, I'd like your advice on a story to introduce Blackout to Team Prime and Jack, and quickly please, I want Blackout's intro to replace Speed Metal. Finally, before any accusations of copying can occur, let me assure you. While I do keep a copy of _From Dusk to Dawn _by Elhini Prime up while I'm writing, it is only so I don't have to keep a copy of the episode up on my computer all the time. I take an episode and decide how it will change due to my Jack or earlier changes. Finally, Jack's story will be told after Nemesis Prime.


End file.
